Enjoying the game is more important than winning
The children were ready with answers. Rummaging through whatever they had, newspaper cuttings, old magazines and notes from their teachers, 21 children from rural Chandrapur district in Maharashtra, had prepared for more than a fortnight for their dream meeting with ace West Indian cricketers at the ICC Cricket For Good and Team Swachh clinic.
And when West Indian ace leg spinner and star cricketer, Samuel Badree asked them the most important reason for playing cricket, the young guns rattled.
"To become successful cricketers," said chirpy, 13-year old Disha.
"True. It is good reason, but not the most important reason," said Samuel as other West Indian cricket icons, Jason Holder, Andre Fletcherand West Indian assistant coach, Andre Coley stood alongside him.
"We play cricket to become healthy and not fall ill," said Disha's classmate, Sourabh.
"Again, very important reason. Playing sports makes us healthy as we exercise our body. But, again, this isn't the most important reason why we play any sport"
"Let me tell what it is," said Samuel, as children exhausted all their responses ranging from gaining fame and getting rich.
"We play cricket or any other sport to have fun. To enjoy and bring smile on our faces" "Are you ready to have fun? Lots and lots of fun," asked Samuel.
The children replied in a unanimous affirmative. Prodded again by Samuel and the cricketers, the children again replied by 'YES'. This time, the vociferous 'YES' hit the stands at the Vidarbha Cricket Association grounds in Nagpur and reverberated with everyone present at the ground. The curator, grounds men and supporting staff at the ground, left whatever they were doing and started watching what the children were up to from the sidelines.
And fun they had. The rising mercury couldn't play dampener as the children over the next hour and half, had the time of their lives. The children started with warmup exercises under the tutelage of West Indian assistant coach, Andre Coley. This included extensive fielding, batting and bowling drills.
This was followed by short three over match between two teams, captained by Jason Holder and Samuel Badree. The exciting match saw many a hilarious moments with pedigreed bowlers from West Indian team, getting hit for huge sixes by the little upstarts. The match ended in a tie, with both teams literally taking Samuel Badree's maxim of 'only enjoying and not winning' to the heart.
After the end of the match, it was the time for West Indian stars to learn something, which the children were excellent at. Teaching them the five steps of handwashing.
"If we wash our hands before eating food and after coming from toilet, we can never be ill," said 9- year old, Akshita with a command and poise that belied her age.
Akshita then quickly got her team to huddle around the cricketers and sang the lyrical rendition of steps of handwashing. This was followed by teaching the cricketer the five steps of handwashing steps. The cricketers who were now joined by their captain and star cricketer, , were glued to the proceedings and llistened attentively as the kids repeated the five steps of handwashing--a crucial way to avoid diseases such as diarrhoea.
And the attention came handy and they passed with flying colours, the tough examination set by children at the end of the handwashing teaching exercise. The clinic ended with the cricketers and children pledging to support Team Swachh campaign which advocates for toilet use in India.